Today, we reviewed the story "What Men Live By." I defined the term "pragmatist (realist: not taking emotion into account).
We discussed how the wife is initially pragmatic when it comes to the arrival of Michael and her concerns. We then discussed how she changed after her husband shames her by saying "Have you no love of God?" She further changes when she sees Michael smile after she feeds him (her pity is rewarded. This is a "reflection" of her good deed.
We then talked about how the couple's life was prior to the arrival of Michael (their good deed) and how it was after.
Michael was kicked out of heaven because he disobeyed God (God's word); the wife also was not acting according to God's "word." In both cases, lessons were learned. Micheal learned the following
1. what is not given to man is the power of knowing
2. what dwells in the heart of man is pity
3. What men live by is love
You were then instructed to do the following:
Examine this story in relation to that of "Beowulf"
Determine what heroic characteristics appear in this story (in relation to Simon).
Compare these to the heroic characteristics of an epic hero.
What is different?
What is the same?
We determined that an epic hero, in addition to our list of characteristics, is strong, smart, pragmatic and confident.
A more modern hero may not be strong, smart, or self confident (he could be a pushover like Simon). The biggest difference, however, is that the modern hero is not doing an act FOR a reward; it is being down as a form of self-sacrifice without the understanding of reward (though, in this short story, it results in prosperity).
I also defined the term "Cliche," which means a phrase that has lost its impact due to overuse. In this case, the phrase was "God is punishing me."
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